I don't know if I have any readers left here, but I'm moving to LJ. You'll find me under my real name, for now. I'm debating opening a new account vs staying with that. I originally set up the account there specifically to participate in a forum for DQG (which eventually moved to a private yahoogroup anyway). I'm less convinced that I need to use a pseudonym online, and, in fact, I've basically linked my handle & my real name anyway at this point, given my listing of all the projects I worked on. Anyway, it should be easy to figure out; if you're stuck and still want to follow me, drop me an email, and tell me how you found this blog and I'll point you at the LJ. Can't make it TOO easy...

Edit: I added a link. I'd rather have more readers than make life difficult. :)

As some folks may know, I'ver recently gotten interested in pro-2nd Amendment rights. I follow several "gun" bloggers, and one of them posted this recently. I usually stay way out of the back & forth arguments because I'm just not comfortable with them, but this time I felt I had to comment. I don't know if the author at BeggersCanBeChoosers will post my comment or not, so I wanted to repost it here:

"Ok, I usually stay way out of these arguments because I just don't always enjoy arguing. But, Marc, I want to respond to something in your angry response, "Oh, and one other thing: please grow a pair. You gun nuts are such pussies. You're so fucking frightened of anything and everything. You think you need your precious gun to defend yourself."

I'm female. I come with a pair, but not the ones you're talking about. :) I'm also not very healthy. I can only run so far, and it's not going to be that fast. I wish I didn't have to worry about it, but there are people who would think of me as an easy target. A gun helps put me on equal footing. It's just not in me to let a criminal do whatever they want to me. Take my wallet, there's no money in it anyway. :) But my life? My safety? That I'll fight for. The cops are awesome, but they don't live with me. I would rather have a firearm and never need it, then need one and not have it."

Really, that sums up my whole point. I wish the world was perfectly safe. I wish there weren't people who think that a woman walking alone was a target for theft or worse. Unfortunately, it's not. A firearm requires some skill, but it lets me keep distance between me & a criminial. As someone who adores efficiency, I think it's the best choice. It puts me on equal footing, at a minimum. Heck, sometimes just having it is enough to scare someone away. If we could magically erase all guns and all knowledge of how to make them, yeah, maybe it's something we wouldn't even have to worry about. But criminals seem to be able to get weapons whether or not they're illegal. Why shouldn't I be able to fight back?

DH was headed out to work about 1:30pm today, when he comes back in and announces the front passenger tire is flat. Well...crap. That one's been low before, but we thought it just needed air. He goes back outside, comes up in a bit and announces, "We don't have a tire iron." Err...yes we do. Look again. "No we don't." *sigh* Call B&A, borrow theirs. They're not sure they have one. DH goes to look again. Oh, it's in the grey fabric bag on the grey fabric trunk liner. Of course we have a tire iron *rolls eyes*. Anyway....it doesn't matter, because while 4 bolts come off, number 5 decides it's not coming off. Period. The bolts were last put on by an impact wrench, so it's not overly surprising, but he got the rest. This one looks like it's starting to be stripped, though, so we give up and call AAA. DH very clearly tells them that we need either a portable impact wrench or a tow. They say "wait 75 minutes." Oi. So we call Sears (where the tires came from; they're still under warranty). and they say we have to get there by 4pm for them to work on it today. No problem, right? It's only about 2:30 at this point...

We wait. And wait. Right on 75 minutes, the guy says he'll be another 10 or so. He shows up right on 4pm. In a pickup truck with his trusty tire iron. He looks at it and agrees there's not much he's going to be able to do either. Should he call a tow truck? Umm...no...now it's too late! *sigh* DH calls AAA and gives them a piece of his mind. Idiots. So now we have to get up early and get it towed.

Of course, he had to skip work today, because we only have the one car, and he figures he'll work on Friday to make it up. Thankfully that's easy for him to do at his office. It means I have to do the same, because I just can't get a whole lot of work done with him around. It just throws me off. At least we'll still have a whole weekend this weekend; he & I both took off for Mom's bday brunch on Sunday. I'm just frustrated at losing a day and it's still not repaired. The timing would have been tight but completely doable if AAA had just used their brain and LISTENED when DH called initially.

And I was going to play PotBS tonight, but it's still got 2 hrs to go to download/update...

I just realized something this morning. The cat is on a once daily pill. I called the vet to confirm my fear: it ought to be given as close to the same time as possible. This could make traveling to visit family....problematic...since we usually stay over at least one night. Logistics for traveling just got more complex. Le sigh.

Oh, and I'm still exhausted. Stupid CFS/Lyme/Whatever-the-heck-it-is. I'm on my second cup of coffee. Meh. I have work to do (GR project, Book of Magic for their Mutants & Masterminds line), and I got into the PotBS beta, so I want to try that out once I finish up work. Can my brain please wake up now? Kthxbye.

Which reminds me, my first idea for a character for PotBS was a French adventurer or officer named, "Jeanne d'Orley." DH says everyone's gonna think it's a lolcat joke. Le sigh.

Am I correct that my comments are broken? if you've been commenting and it hasn't shown up, please drop me an email using the contact form, or an IM if you have that or whatever. It looks like it might be time to change hosts, so if you have a suggestion for that as well, I'm open to it...

Edit: I'm thinking the problem is that they broke comments outside of IE. IE works for myself & Morte, and Firefox doesn't work for her, nor does Opera work for me. Idiots.

Ok, today's been a heck of a day and it's not done yet. Got up at 7am-ish, took Othello to the vet for his ultrasound, went for brekkie at the diner, went to PetCo looking for a new carrier/a catbed or two/a raised food bowl. Then we went to GNC for cat's claw. Next, it was Target, where we got a whole bunch of stuff including a cat scratching board, but I don't remember what all else. Then Bed Bath & Beyond, where we got new bath rugs and a shower caddy. Then we went to the Sprint store, but they couldn't match the $100 off deal on the website, so off to Bridgewater maul. Got a necklace of mine inspected (keeps the warranty steady), talked renfaires with the lady working there while we dodged being sold a nearly $600!!! gold chain "but it's adjustable," (how 'bout making one that fits me without an extender instead?!?), and then to the sprint store HERE. Umm...we have new phones. I have a mogul It's shiny. DH & I got a McD's snack. I drove him to work. I drove myself home. I panicked when I couldn't find the new BT headset I bought to go with the phone..I called the vet, found out what's wrong with Othello (his left ventricular wall is thicker, his heart isn't pumping as strongly, he's been put on atenolol every day, but his aspirin has been drastically reduced), fetched Othello (he got ticked at the tech who wanted him out of the cage & into the carrier), took him home, he was happy, esp with the new scratching board that we go. Found the headset finally. Futzed with the phone. Remembered to eat around 9pm. Futzed more. Oh, and finally, I have to leave ('bout 20 minutes ago) to pick DH up. at 11pm. Can I go to sleep yet?

Update: I spent a bunch of time trying to get gps software onto the new phone...only to have the gps crap out and lose lock halfway to DH's office. I know the route, but I was so tired, I wanted reminders where to turn, preferably before I hit the NJ/PA border on Rt 78...I came home and curled on the couch and found out that yes, you can laugh & cry at the same time. I'm going to bed.

Don't taunt the perfectionists (hey SIL, I'm looking at you *g*): I'm catching up on a back issue of Gift of Stitching (which is a very good magazine, actually) and the July issue has a pattern that would drive any perfectionist BATTY. The text says, "I Celebrate Even My Mistakes," and it has what appears at first to be a symmetrical circle of flowers and leave around it. Except, there's all sorts of mistakes throughout it. So far, I've spotted a misspelling, one curlicule missing, at least two areas that don't start where they should, etc. I love it, but I don't know that I could stitch it. It might be a good reminder not to get caught up in perfectionism, though. That's not there all is to life.

So, tell me about your stitching rotation or if you have one. I'm starting to think about changing how I work on things, so I'm curious to hear what other people do. Right now, I just have two projects, a travel and an at-home (on the stand) project. If you're not a stitcher, how do you decide on other hobby projects? All those things you "want" to do, but don't have a deadline.

This SBQ's question has a story behind it and is quite a bit longer than usual. You can find the entire story here. The heart of the story are these questions:

What would your stash tell others about you?

What would you want done with your stash when you die? Would your family know what to do with it or what its value is? Is it organized enough for them to do something with it? Anything particularly valuable in your stash that should be handled differently?

Also, have you ever bought stash from a stitcher that has passed and how did it make you feel?

My stash would reflect mildly eclectic tastes, but overall there's a lot of fantasy designs and a lot of BAPs. It might be really odd to other stitchers because I don't have a full set of DMC or any other floss, nor do I have much fabric. My husband would understand at least the basic cost of everything, although my parents wouldn't. Only two of my friends are specifically cross stitchers, although another might be interested in my handful of blackwork stuff. So, hopefully, they'd split things up. Anything not wanted by them, I'm not sure I care if it's sold or donated or what. It really depends on the circumstances of my family at the time. If the money's important, it can be sold. If not, maybe donated to a charity of some sort or simply freecycled. It's actually relatively organized, so that aspect of dealing with it wouldn't be a problem. As there's nothing particularly valuable other than retail cost (Nova's expensive, for instance, but it's certainly available in general), I don't see that that's an issue. I could hope this might encourage additional family or friends to take up stitching if they hadn't done so before then, but other than that, you know, it's just stuff. If I'm dead, do whatever you like with it. *shrug*

Oh, and as far as I know, I've never bought stash from a stitcher that's died. I've certainly never gone to any sort of estate sale.

I was on the computer, cat snuggled in arms, when I realized something wasn't right. Dammit. Othello was having a seizure of some sort. He's had this before, it's what led me to take him to the vet at the beginning of the year. He sorta freezes, and wobbles, back & forth. He stretched his neck out a lot, too, but I'm not sure if that was the seizure of trying to get more scritch. The whole thing is just...odd. He's had 2-3 other ones maybe, but this was the longest since that first one. I just don't feel the vet gave me a satisfactory answer. I have an appointment for the other cat for a checkup on Friday, so I'm going to see if I can get the appointment expanded or swapped to get Othello in. Meanwhile, I hollered for my husband in a panic, and he grumbled the whole way. Admittedly, he WAS sound asleep. But I don't appreciate him going BACK to sleep when I tell him what's wrong. I was all set to go to the emergency vet. On the off chance he's having a diabetic episode (not that he's been diagnosed with that, but I also don't know he was TESTED for it), I got them a can of cat food and got him to eat a bit.

Oh, and did I mention I HATE the crap that is their dry food? The can's ok, although it's a bit fatty looking. Both are Prescription Diet k/d and the dry is just...yuck. I'm paying more for crappier ingredients than I was giving them before. I understand taking some of the load off the one cat's kidneys by less protein, but he's still a carnivore. They need meat. And the other cat, the one with crystal issues, is getting way fat, even for him. So I'm going to attempt to quiz the vet on why they're getting this stuff and what the benefit of it is over, say TJs canned food. Or even Fancy Feast, which is apparently a better one. Oh, and to make my unease compete? Read this . The vet that wrote that specifically calls attention to the kd (dry) as being a poor choice and making things worse mostly due to the lack of moisture. I want them on an all canned diet, but I'm concerned about how much we travel. But I need to weigh convience vs health. I think I'm going to end up with a cat sitter....